


Keep me close to your heart

by HimeBeat



Series: But It's Profound to Be Understood [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: A lot of staring at Ash's chest, And in love, Ash Ketchum is a romantic, Fluff, It's M for safety but really nothing major, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, They're just stupid, for some reason, no beta we die like men, read if you want to get cavities, read to find out why, seriously it's not even funny, so it's Goh tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26225977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HimeBeat/pseuds/HimeBeat
Summary: Goh's anniversary gift to Ash.
Relationships: Gou | Goh/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: But It's Profound to Be Understood [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743232
Comments: 7
Kudos: 53





	Keep me close to your heart

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't listen to Ed Sheeran's 'Photograph' while writing this, but I might as well have...
> 
> I wrote 2000words of fluff - what else is new. I had a good time writing this one! It’s a lil follow-up to the Alola vacation, and it’s not what I had in mind to post next (No, that was a 15K long monster that is still sitting on my pages, four weeks later, because I haven’t quite figured out the conflict yet - but it’s holiday themed and angsty and filled with comfort. Coming soon! I hope…)
> 
> In the meantime, please do enjoy this lil snippet of the boys being tender and in love. Please imagine the Pokémon are chilling somewhere in the living-room. So they are not witness to their trainers’ bedroom activities…that being said, this is M rated for half a curse-word, and brushed over sex at the very beginning. But just to be safe.
> 
> Enjoy!

They don’t make much headway on the unpacking (or dinner, or even watering their plants) the moment they arrive to the apartment.

Instead, it becomes a storm of heat and hungry mouths, wandering hands and clothes being scattered down the hallway to their bedroom, which in turn evolves into gasps, moans, and laughter, because _you need some help with that?, ugh, why do you even wear these anyways…_

Goh sucks the wit out of Ash soon enough, though, and it’s back to moans and breathy calls of names. To hands knitted together over heads, eyes closing and toes curling in pleasure.

To a final release of ecstasy into the each other’s panting mouths, in what can’t be quite called a kiss, but it’s intimate and delicious nonetheless.

It’s good to be home.

An exhausted Ash makes grabby hands to his boyfriend afterwards, hoping they can cuddle for a little bit, and, if he is _really lucky,_ maybe even squeeze in a nap.

But Goh crushes his dreams with a shake of the head and a swat to his shoulder, arguing that they need to clean up, and at least move their bags to the room and sort out the laundry, the Pokémon need to be fed, too, and Cinderace will want to watch that show with the Magikarp and…

It all sounds very tasking and boring to Ash. But then Goh mentions that they’ll need a shower, and how they can just order take-out for dinner, because he’s too tired to cook.

That piques Ash’s interest some.

He makes Goh promise sex during the shower as well, to which the researcher agrees halfheartedly and with a raised eyebrow, probably just to get Ash out of bed, but a verbal contract is binding in the city of Vermillion…probably. Ash plans to hold him to it anyways.

They are about to get started - when Goh’s eyes fix on Ash’s chest for a moment, littered with fresh love-bites, flushed all the way to his neck.

Goh looks at him, sweaty and sated and _his,_ and he decides there is something that must happen before they can move on with their day.

“Wait here” he instructs, un-straddling Ash’s hips, and getting out of the bed.

Ash, still a bit fucked out, wordlessly complies, and lazily appreciates the view of a naked Goh walking around their bedroom, watches him disappear into the en-suite, faintly hears the running of water, and, just as quickly, sees Goh return in the room.

Much to his dismay, he’s not coming to the bed and jumping into his arms (which, _rude)._

Instead, he’s rummaging through their closet, and Ash will give him an earful for it later, because he’s always the one complaining of the drawers being disorganized, blaming Ash for throwing things around -

“There you are” Says Goh, relieved, making Ash lifts his head slightly, curious to see what the racket is about.

“What is it?” He asks.

Goh doesn’t reply, but does something nice and walks back to the bed, handing a washcloth to the trainer, who promptly uses it to clean the drying mess on his stomach. Goh’s other hand is clasped around a box.

Ash doesn’t miss the way his manner has turned somewhat fidgety.

“What have you got in there, baby?” He tries again.

Goh smiles at him, and sits on his side of the bed, inviting Ash to sit up as well, which is a bit of a laborious request, but he does it, intrigued now.

“Your gift” He finally replies, offering the small blue box to his boyfriend “I hope you’ll like it?” He says over a nervous murmur.

Ash doesn’t miss a beat “I already love it” He promises, even when he’s hardly had the box in his hands for a second.

He’d given some thought to his gift on the flight back to Vermillion, Goh hadn’t said much about it, only that he’d get it as soon as they got back to the apartment.

Which didn’t happen, but he was most definitely _not_ going to complain about that.

They haven’t had much chance for gifts over the years, though every time they managed to see each other they’d try to bring a little memento, mostly silly souvenirs, and, in Ash’s case, a few Pokémon he’d gifted to Goh, when he knew they were missing from his boyfriend’s Pokédex.

But Ash himself wasn’t big on presents, he was more of the ‘let’s-do-something-awesome-together’ type, and Goh understood this, which is why he’d always find some great place to explore in the counted days they spent together, making new memories, filling pages of their journey.

Ash doubts the small box contains a trinket this time around, it’s rather elegant, the light-blue of the box contrasted by a stronger blue lace and bow around it.

It looks like it could store something no larger than a coin.

A medal, maybe?

Ash surely loves those.

His eyes widen in curiosity, then in astonishment, when he registers the gift.

“Oh, Goh, this is…is this…?”

This is better than any medal he’s ever had.

It’s a chain, long and silver, thin, but sturdy-looking.

It’s beautiful on its own, but what catches the trainer’s eye is the pair of tags attached to it.

Goh nods a few times “You were always saying how you wanted something to remind you of me, when we were apart. And I know that’s not the case anymore, but…well, I thought you might still like it? It’s kinda silly, because we’re together all the time now, but…” Ash interrupts his rant with a tender hand to his wrist, and when he finds Ash’s face, his nerves dissipate at the adoration he sees in the brown eyes he loves so much.

“Goh, this is fantastic” Expresses the trainer, smile splitting his face “Thank you, thank you”

Goh smiles back, and closes into his partner’s space, he takes the necklace from Ash’s hand, who is still admiring it in awe.

He carefully puts it around the trainer’s neck, making sure it doesn’t tangle on his hair, and watches the silver titanium perfectly match the tan skin, the tags clinking together where they touch the middle of his chest.

It’s long enough that Ash will be able to wear them under his shirts, and it shouldn’t get in the way of day-to-day activities.

They lay right where Goh likes to rest his head at night, the best place to listen to Ash’s steady heartbeat.

“This way I can always have you with me” Muses Ash, softly, still looking at them, voice filled with affection.

Goh nods, and wraps them in a hug, kissing the champion’s neck at the sweet words, overwhelmed with his own sentiment over the gift.

It’s begun to feel as a distant reality, the time they were apart, though less than a year ago they were still regions away, still could only see each other through a screen, longing to be close. Could only talk of their adventures during late night calls, or by belated letters.

It’s all different now. They are together every day, _wake up_ together every day. Their adventures are shared once again, and they can kiss and hold one another at any moment, no distance to separate them, no reason to hesitate.

But, be it a thousand miles away, or right next to each other, he never wants Ash to feel insecure, never wants him to think twice about the fact that _this_ is certain.

This is permanent.

He breathes out into the hug, further dampening the skin he’d just been kissing.

“Yeah, but it’s also a reminder, Ash, that it’s _you_ who I belong with, no-one else” and this is important to Ash, he knows so, and this is way of reassuring his partner that he has no reason to doubt.

Goh loves him, just as unconditionally as he knows he’s loved.

How-ever could he not.

“Thank you” Repeats Ash, tightening his hold on Goh’s body, almost crying with how happy he feels at the moment. It’s the only thing he can say, feeling filled to the brim with gratitude and love and _so much_ adoration for the blue-eyed boy in his arms.

He doesn’t need to say much more, though, he knows, because Goh understands that his simple _thank you’s_ run deeper, aren’t just about the gift itself, but about what it represents, what he knows Goh is saying to him through it.

Goh’s name rests on his chest now, engraved in one of the tags, along with his birthdate. The font is delicate, yet confident, much like Goh himself.

Goh is _his,_ and he can now carry him wherever he goes, now he has a present reminder of the fact that he belongs to someone, and that someone has entrusted _him_ to look after their heart.

It’s a great honor, and even when Ash knows all of this stands true, nameteags or not, the physical representation of that promise feels important.

He lays a kiss to his boy’s temple, and sits back to look at tags again.

“What are these numbers?” He asks, taking them in his hand, inspecting the second one curiously.

Goh’s response is a little sheepish. The second one had been a little extra, in his own opinion, but he hadn’t been able to resist:

“This one is the date,” He says, and it’s impressive to even think it happened almost a decade ago “and _this,_ is the most exact location of the place where we first met” He explains.

“We met on the back of Lugia” Reminds Ash, confusedly. The legendary Pokémon not exactly a “location”

Goh chuckles “Well, _yes,_ but we both jumped onto it _somewhere,_ remember? And _this_ is where that happened”

It hadn’t been particularly hard to find the coordinates, but Goh hadn’t been there in _years._

When he returned, the fondness of the memory had been so powerful it had brought him to tears.

He couldn’t have known, back then, that he would spend the next three years riding an endless adventure with whom would become his best friend. That he would grow to love the raven haired, brown-eyed man Ash was turning into, his bravery, confidence, and that unwavering determination to become the very best in what he did.

Goh couldn’t have known, back then, that Ash would become the most important person in his life.

But, strangely enough, he’s certain it couldn’t have been any other way, can’t imagine what it would’ve been like, if he and Ash hadn’t met that afternoon.

“I had a feeling that day, that I would have a fateful encounter, and my life would change” He says in a whisper “For a while I thought it had been meeting Lugia. But I know now, that is _you_ I was destined to meet”

Ash kisses him then, warm and in love, so in love “Thank you,” he repeats, over and over, their lips still touching. Goh smiles into the press of their mouths, and lets them kiss a few more times “this is the greatest gift, seriously, I love it”

“I’m glad” Says Goh, and he is.

He’s happy that Ash has found the tags as meaningful as he did when he first thought of them as a present. He’s happy to know they’ll be appreciated, and he has no qualms that Ash will care for them fiercely.

“You changed my life, too” confides Ash, sincerely, one hand holding the tags, the other coming up to caress Goh’s face, thumb rubbing his cheek.

He leans forward to kiss his forehead, and Goh’s eyes are watery when he leans back, but Ash doesn’t worry, because he’s smiling sweetly, lovingly, and he looks joyous, the way Ash adores to watch him be.

This is how happy he wants to make him, every day.

It’s how happy he wants them to be for the rest of time.

With how charged the moment is, Ash hopes Goh will let them fall back into bed for a little longer, so they can bask in the afterglow…and take the nap he’d been quietly rooting for.

But his partner doesn’t relent. He _does_ kiss him again, and tells him he’s very much loved, but that, even so, he won’t get out of sorting out the bags so easily. Besides, it’s getting late, too, and they should start thinking about dinner, does the place they like from downtown deliver to their address? He’s got a hankering for fried rice and dumplings, and maybe something sweet…

Ash sighs and pouts childishly, but gets on his feet and follows.

Just as he sees the researcher reach for his briefs, however, a _brilliant_ idea (in his very humble opinion) lights in his head.

He rushes to stop Goh before he can get too far, arms wrapping around his narrow waist, playful.

The tags press against his back, they feel cold, and make a shiver run down Goh’s spine.

Though that could also be Ash’s sinful mouth into the shell of his ear.

“What about that shower _first?_ ” He murmurs, lips trailing down the delicate neckline.

Goh groans and rolls his eyes, feigning exasperation, but takes a hold of the hands on his stomach, and laces them with his own.

He is the one to pull them into the bathroom.

**Author's Note:**

> The tags I’m talking about are the military dog-tags (the ones given to soldiers), in case that wasn’t clear. There’s no military (that I know of) in Pokémon, and hopefully the symbolism won’t offend anyone (it’s not my intention, ever!) I know military topics can be sensitive, and those tags in our world have a very important symbolic value to soldiers, veterans, and their families.
> 
> All right, let me know what you thought! You know I adore chatting in the comments. Thank you, forever and ever, for reading. I love you, and I hope you have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening.
> 
> Be safe! x


End file.
